1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an alignment device of a testing device, and more particularly, to an alignment device for electrically connecting a testing device to a sliding plate on a conveyer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many electronic factories use computer controlled conveyers and sliding plates to transport electronic products to various assembly stations or testing stations. Some of these electronic factories use automatic facilities to electrically connect a testing device to a socket of the sliding plate.
Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a prior art alignment device 10 for automatically connecting a testing device 15 to a socket 12 of a sliding plate 11. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the plug 14 and the socket 12 shown in FIG. 1. The alignment device 10 and the testing device 15 are installed beside a conveyer 17. The sliding plate 11 is slidably installed on the conveyer 17 and can be temporarily halted in front of the testing device 15 and alignment device 10 during performance of a test. The alignment device 10 is electrically controlled by the testing device 15. It comprises a plug 14 electrically connected to the testing device 15, and a driving device 16 having a driving arm 19 for pushing the plug 14 toward the socket 12 of the sliding plate 11. The socket 12, which is electrically connected to an electronic product 13 placed on the sliding plate 11, comprises a plurality of recesses 18 with electric wires, and the plug 14 comprises a plurality of correspondent probes 20.
When the sliding plate 11 is transported by the conveyer 17 to a predetermined position in front of the testing device 15, the testing device 15 will use the driving arm 19 of the driving device 16 to push the plug 14 toward the socket 12 of the sliding plate 11 to electrically connect the probes 20 of the plug 14 with the correspondent recesses 18 of the socket 12. When the plug 14 is electrically connected with the socket 12 of the sliding plate 11, the testing device 15 will start to test the electronic product 13 placed on the sliding plate 11. When a test is completed, the testing device 15 will use the driving device 16 to disconnect the plug 14 from the socket 12, and the sliding plate 11 will be transported to a subsequent working station by the conveyer 17.
In order to minimize possible positioning errors when the probes 20 of the plug 14 are pushed toward the recesses 18 of the socket 12, large diameters of the recesses 18 and long distances between adjacent probes 20 are necessary. Although such an arrangement car effectively reduce possible errors, it will also reduce the number of probes 20 and recesses 18 because a total contact area between the plug 14 and the socket 12 is fixed. Since many sophisticated electronic products need to be tested with many probes, such an arrangement is unacceptable.
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide an alignment device used for connecting a testing device with a conveyer to solve the above mentioned problems.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides an alignment device for electrically connecting a testing device to a socket of a sliding plate over which the testing device is positioned beside a conveyer and the sliding plate is slidably placed on the conveyer and is temporarily halted in front of the testing device, the alignment device comprising:
a positioning device fixed on the socket of the sliding plate;
a plug electrically connected to the testing device;
a guiding device fixed on the plug;
a driving device installed beside the testing device for pushing the plug and the guiding device toward the socket and the positioning device of the sliding device; and
a mounting device installed on the driving device for slidably supporting the plug and the guiding device;
wherein when the plug is pushed toward the socket of the sliding plate by the driving device, the guiding device will interact with the positioning device to adjust the position of the plug on the mounting device so that the plug can be plugged into the socket of the sliding plate.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the alignment device comprises a guiding device and a positioning device so that more probes and recesses can be installed on the plug and the socket without the problem of positioning errors, and thus sophisticated electronic products can be tested more easily.
This and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after read the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.